Coaster Critique: Stift Engelszell Gregorius

My wife picked this bottle up for me as a Christmas gift. Stift Engelszell is a Trappist Monastery located in Austria. Engelszell is the newest Trappist brewery, having just been approved to produce Trappist beer by the International Trappist Association in May of 2012. There are only seven other Trappist breweries in the world.

Gregorius pours very dark and shadowy but has a red/amber hue when held up to the light. Pour produced almost no head, just a thin off white ring around the glass, although steady carbonation is visible.

I’m picking up some dark fruit aromas, cherries and plums. Smells bready with some chocolate and honey notes swirling in there, the alcohol is noticeable but light.

This beer is pretty hot; the alcohol is right up front but does mellow through the sip to allow the other flavors to show through. Dark fruits are the next thing I notice, followed by chocolate. This beer reminds me of an alcohol soaked cherry dipped in dark chocolate.

Overall a beer I would drink again with some age on it, I really enjoyed the flavor, reminded me of a cherry cordial but was just a bit too boozy. I plan on finding another bottle of this to put in the beer cellar for a year or two, with some time it should mellow out a bit.